Official first day of practice at Pikes Peak for the MeadeSports Road Race Engineering team is in the books and times are confirmed.
Australian Jeff Denmeade reports that they we were practicing on the top section, which is arguably the fastest and most dangerous part of the mountain.
Outside of a slight snow fall, in summer, which made the road a bit slippery, the road has also been through some changes in the past where there were more bumps, and even repairs in its short history of being paved.
Times were good, and pretty much expected, with the MeadeSports RoadRace Engineering Evo 8 driven by Denmeade slotting in between two new Viper ACRs and the new NSX making its world debut in competition.
“It wasn't anything outside of what we expected in the end,” said Denmeade. "We are 30 seconds off the new NSX, and our nearest competitor is 30 seconds behind. But we all still have to get to the top, our battle will be with the other new Viper.
"With the boys from RoadRace Engineering, America's Mitsubishi Evo gurus, on our team, I feel we are in the best position to put in our best time on the mountain, all going well weather wise,” Denmeade said.
Today's practice at the top was halted due to oil being spilt by a competitor who then went off and into the guard rail, limiting the expected runs.
"We were only doing boost checks today,” Denmeade added. “It's a long way up there, from 12,000 to 14,000 feet, all cars suffer in their own way, some in tyres, some in water temperature. But we got what we needed."
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